gasninja wrote:teaism I hope we can get together for some LBZ someday.

I have never had a humidly stored LBZ. I am very curious as to how that would turn out.

gasninja, nice of you and hope we have "yuanfen"(fate) to drink tea together someday

So much interesting debate on LBZ, many tea lovers are anticipating it to be a great tea. So far it look promising but the big turn off is the price and authenticity. It is really still a gamble whether it will live up to its expectation. Eventually it up to each individual choice to embark on it..

btw sheng puer should be stored in dry storage.....that will be another long debate and out of this topic...

Teaism wrote:A very interesting tread. I am really curious how a real LBZ and Bingdao can be accessible. There are many small producer lining up at the mountain and buy directly from the minorities who harvest at the wild arbor. Real stuff is really hard to come by and mostly obtainable via direct contact with the producer who reside there, often smaller producer. cheaper but in might be the blended stuff. So buyer beware..

The trees from Bingdao, not all of them, are reputedly 600+ years. These trees, according to Tea Urchin's blog, are all leased out to certain producers. They have name plaques hanging around the trees to show which producers are leasing the tree. The only way to know if your Bingdao is all old leaf is to know your producer and trust them. There is obviously a lot of mixing going on.

Prices for old leaf maocha is very high. The only 'deal' you can find is from old stock, not current leaf. I think this area produces very good Puerh and even mixed stuff will be quite good.

Something that I did not quite understand (perhaps due to my not being able to read Chinese characters) is why at the website of Bingdao Tea Refining Factory, the price for a 2011 cake was more than $700 yet I could buy a 2011 cake here in BKK for $250 or so. Today, I discovered that the $700 cake is made from a single tree, not a combination of other ancient trees, but just one. Evidently, the Chinese will pay a premium for these cakes. Will it be better than a cake made from 3 other trees standing right next to it and of the same age but sells for $250? Good marketing?

This Bingdao producer is the real deal, Teaism. The tea quality is exceptional. They also have a 70 year old Tea Master that oversees the production and each cake is hand-signed. Hopefully, that guy has some good students learning from him. From what I've heard, other producers pay him to process their teas which are not Bingdao Tea Refining Factory trees. A good master should make most teas better. Always good to start with the best leaves. As Shah said in another thread, you have to have trust in your vendor and producer, then let your taste guide you.

Teaism wrote:This Bingdao producer is the real deal, Teaism. The tea quality is exceptional. They also have a 70 year old Tea Master that oversees the production and each cake is hand-signed. Hopefully, that guy has some good students learning from him. From what I've heard, other producers pay him to process their teas which are not Bingdao Tea Refining Factory trees. A good master should make most teas better. Always good to start with the best leaves. As Shah said in another thread, you have to have trust in your vendor and producer, then let your taste guide you.

Hi Tead Off,

Thanks for the recommendation. I might check them out. I have a very good LBZ collection(during 2008-09 period but not recently due to quality) but not yet on Bingdao. In fact, I just had a 6 hours tea testing session and one of it was on Bingdao pairing by 2 reputable merchant. Still I am not decided to pursue it yet.

I guess the whole tea hunting process is too complex. If we understand how tea is produced from farmer to picker to processor to merchant to market sentiment, we will always be very careful and skeptical. I guess that what makes this hobby so exciting and also frustrating at the same time.

There are too many shades of grey. Tea experiences no matter how much can also be doubtfully right or fatally wrong.....

shah82 wrote:Early spring auctions are that Bingdao is ~$1200/kg and Lao Banzhang is ~$900/kg for spring tea this year.

Great, the pu bubble keeps re-inflating to heights unheard of in 2007. Insanity.

Welcome to Asia. It's going on in every level of life. Try real estate and the cost of fruits and vegetables. I went to the Chinese doctor yesterday and came away with a 7day supply of herbs costing $90. I was shocked. 3-4 years ago it was half that price.

shah82 wrote:Early spring auctions are that Bingdao is ~$1200/kg and Lao Banzhang is ~$900/kg for spring tea this year.

Great, the pu bubble keeps re-inflating to heights unheard of in 2007. Insanity.

Welcome to Asia. It's going on in every level of life. Try real estate and the cost of fruits and vegetables. I went to the Chinese doctor yesterday and came away with a 7day supply of herbs costing $90. I was shocked. 3-4 years ago it was half that price.

shah82 wrote:Early spring auctions are that Bingdao is ~$1200/kg and Lao Banzhang is ~$900/kg for spring tea this year.

Great, the pu bubble keeps re-inflating to heights unheard of in 2007. Insanity.

Welcome to Asia. It's going on in every level of life. Try real estate and the cost of fruits and vegetables. I went to the Chinese doctor yesterday and came away with a 7day supply of herbs costing $90. I was shocked. 3-4 years ago it was half that price.

Indeed! A lot of Chinese medicines (which are produced in China too) are a lot cheaper in Canada than in China even without adjustment of income difference in the two countries. On the other hand, maybe the day will come when we buy cheaper tea in America than in China (which actually already happened on some teas)